The Ashley Madison Debacle

It seems the latest media topic to captivate everyone’s attention is the scandalous hacking and revealing of data that shames everyone who has ever used the cheating site – Ashley Madison. It’s been a while since I’ve written about sexual immorality on here so I’m gonna weigh in on this.

Before I get too far I should make the disclaimer that I’ve only read a few articles on the debacle, and that’s all it takes to get the point. I don’t need to know every detail about it to say what’s on my mind, but I believe that someone is gonna get something they need to out of what I feel like I need to say.

I haven’t even read many articles and I can already predict the tone. Without a doubt the following two songs being sung loud and proud.

1- Damn all those sick detestable perverts who deserve the worst punishment.

2- Gracefully forgive all those people who in their human weakness made mistakes.

TWO EXTREMES!

I refuse to accept either extreme because in my opinion one is too strong and the other too weak. One is a position of condemnation and the other is a position of passive permission. I’m sick and tired of crap like this happening and everyone having to either choose an extreme or remain silent – because our so called progressive and increasingly tolerant culture is really just increasingly polarized. But that’s another subject. On to the points of this post.

To the one extreme – I absolutely agree this is a despicable situation. But I also agree with the other extreme – we should show grace and forgiveness because we’re all imperfect and all sin is equal in Gods eyes.

To the one extreme – I agree there will absolutely be judgement. But I also agree with the other extreme that the judgement is not ours to make and we should pray repentance and forgiveness for the offenders in this situation.

Here’s what I believe both extremes want the other to acknowledge underneath all the stupid shouting: Regardless of how much we forgive there are still consequences for our actions, and in order to forgive as God commands casting condemnation should not be one of the consequences.

Families are in turmoil. People are being very publicly humiliated and shamed – something none of us ever want to happen with some of our own failures. The damage this whole debacle is doing is massive, and I feel terrible for all the lives being wrecked. But I still believe good can come from it regardless of whether we ever really know it.

The bottom line we should all take away from this: No sin is done without harm to self and others. No matter how secret a sin might seem it will eventually be brought to light. It’s best for us all to simply focus on pursuing righteousness in our own lives while encouraging others to do the same.